Well-intentioned impulses can lead to modeling ourselves after the wrong Christ.

Tyler Wigg-Stevenson/ March 4,2013

Ephesians 4:16 tells us that from Christ "the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work." … [As activists], [w]hen we try to do everything ourselves, ...

Kevin Anderson,
What are you talking about? "The Illuminati" by Burkett (a work of fiction)? The "Thor Conspiracy" (another work of fiction)? The Coming Economic Earthquake? Larry was certainly off on his timing but the economic earthquake started a few years ago and is continuing on today and he future looks even more bleak. Although I don't claim to be an expert on Burkett or all his writings, it would be good if you could provide some evidence to prove your stated conclusion.

Jim Ricker

March 13, 20136:24pm

Rick,
No, you did not control the land if you did not act prudently (hence the reason for the return every so often...). You could work your land smarter than others and generate more wealth that way. Also, after the Babylonian captivity, not everyone returned and not all lands were able to be brought back to the correct family due to some not being represented after the return. That is certainly not a 'frozen' economic situation but, we do know that wealth was redistributed and debts forgiven at different time intervals (at least that was how they were supposed to do it) so there would be a more level playing field. Your "aristocracy" comment is to be blunt is...ridiculous. If the plan was followed, ALL Israelite families shared in the land. ALL descendents of Naphtali were to share the land left to the tribe of Naphtali. ALL families that came into the land from Egypt were from one of the 12 tribes and thus had ownership of the land in their respective family.

KEVIN ANDERSON

March 13, 20133:19pm

Larry Burkett was a hack writer who believed in ridiculous conspiracy theories and made false predictions. End of story.

Rick Dalbey

March 11, 20138:04pm

Ricker, the land you and your family were given by Joshua is the land you kept in perpetuity. Hence a frozen economy. It was a landed aristocracy based on family.

Jim Ricker

March 11, 20135:41pm

Rick D,
Your comment makes no sense, Jubilee (which was never celebrated fully (like the sabbath rest for the land). Rich people owned MORE land because others had to turn it over to them for debts. The release of those lands went back to those who had started with the land. Those who were rich had to release land and the poor didn't have land to return to the rich. Who said wealthy landowners were made poor? Not I. Your striking a straw man Rick.

audrey ruth

March 10, 201310:16pm

Here is a link to a webpage which gives detailed info about the Year of Jubilee and the Sabbatical years (which were different, had different provisions, occurred in different cycles of time). For example, SOME debts were cancelled in the Sabbatical years, but not all. Bottom line is, God's laws for these years were not about redistribution of wealth. Link: http://www.arlev.co.uk/jubilee.htm (close up any spaces that appear in the link) Also -- Larry Burkett gave clear info about this in his book The Coming Economic Earthquake. He showed why and how America's disregarding of these principles had adversely affected our economy.

Rick Dalbey

March 10, 20136:12pm

Jim, Jubilee guaranteed the rich stayed rich. Any land that they had lost, they recovered. The clock was reset and society was frozen. Jubilee is not about wealth reapportionment, it is about a re-start. Do-overs. Imagine if you had been a poor, landless peasant who had managed in the last 50 years to build up some assets and you took advantage of some poor decisions by wealthy Benjaminites. Imagine you had purchased their ancestral land. 20 acres from some formerly wealthy tribe of Judah Family. 100 acres from a down-on-his-luck Reubenite. Sorry Charlie...the land goes back to the original owner and your fortune goes out the door. No wonder the Jews failed to keep the Jubilee...it was all about conserving what the Lord had originally given you. If you were born a wealthy land owner, you stayed a wealthy landowner. If you were born a free man, you stayed a free man.

Jim Ricker

March 10, 20133:31pm

2. Slaves were freed. One of three things happened and most of the time there was a combination of things happening. First, the slave owner lost the wealth the slave brought to him through the freeing of the slave. This means the owner lost the money he was still owed. Secondly, the owner lost the ability to request (or allow) the freed slave to become a bondservant (a willing slave) and thirdly, the slave had his debt wiped out AND he had the ability to earn his own money again and NOT give that wealth to the former slave owner. 3. During the Jubilee year, those same slaves (and others) eat of the land by which they did not own and did not work. So, the slaves would then be eating the food of others and this was a requirement for the entire nation. Land was income and wealth back in those days far more than it is today.

Jim Ricker

March 10, 20133:21pm

During the year of Jubilee and/or the Sabbatical year, wealth was redistributed back to the ones who had lost it in different ways. 1. Land was returned to the original family ownership. Land was income and in that day and age, it was the MAIN source of income (an agrarian society). You didn't make much for sale back then and what you did, was almost always grown or raised on your land. Having the rich's wealth gain in land was redistributing the rich's wealth for sure and was the main reason the Jubilee was NOT celebrated regularly, they had to give it back. One does NOT object to giving back something that of no worth Audrey. Continued

audrey ruth

March 09, 20138:36pm

I do not see anything about "redistribution of wealth" in the Year of Jubilee, or any other part of God's economic plan for the Israelites. I do agree with you on some things here, Jim, but I don't think that's an accurate way to describe the cancellation of debts every 50 years, which occurred once in each person's lifetime. BTW -- this topic reminds me of a fantastic book written in the 1990s by Larry Burkett, who had a great ministry regarding handling of finances, which helped many, many people to get out of debt: The Coming Economic Earthquake. I read that book not long ago, and it was amazing how "prophetic" he was back then. EVERY thing he predicted has come to pass.

Jim Ricker

March 09, 20136:14pm

Actually, the Jubilee was all about redistributing the wealth - all at once and all at the same time. Your land was returned to you and your family, your debt was cancelled out completely as well. Of course the Jews never practiced the Jubilee as it was supposed to be celebrated either which was a sin for the nation and spoken about throughout the OT when the poor, slaves, widows and orphans were oppressed daily. The removal of all debts makes the rich lower in wealth and brought up the poor and those in slavery for their debts.

audrey ruth

March 09, 20131:41pm

The Jubilee was not about Income Redistribution; it was about forgiveness of debts -- everybody's, rich, poor, and middle class. It was part of God's economic program which included tithes to support the priests and their families, letting the ground lie fallow every seven years, plus more. "Income Redistribution" is a communist/socialist concept not rooted in the Scriptures. The Lord says, "If a man will not work, neither let him eat." There was no Robin Hood thievery going on. Jesus also clearly defined marriage, reaffirming His Word from the beginning in Matthew 19. I have no problem whatsoever with legal immigration. I remember the days when immigrants were so glad to be here, they were proud to become American citizens, pay taxes like everyone else, and fly the American flag instead of protesting our laws while waving the flags of their homelands.

Rick Dalbey

March 09, 201311:20am

Kevin, you are right. Whenever we make political activism the work of Jesus, we err. The works of Jesus were to heal the sick miraculously, raise the dead, cast out demons and preach the gospel of salvation. He said in John 14, “ “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.” Those are the works He commissioned the 12 to do, the 70 and finally us in the great commission. We need salvation because we are lost in sin. Evidence of that is adultery, fornication, homosexuality, theft, abuse of the poor, racial abuse, the killing of babies for profit and worshipping other gods. Paul says “the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you."

KEVIN ANDERSON

March 09, 20136:25am

Dalbey: To continue - I suggest to you Jesus said nothing about the War on Terror, NDAA, Drones, Patriot Act, Trickle-Down Economics, Legislating Morality, continued US dependence on foreign oil, continued US military presence in other lands, tax loopholes for corporations to ship jobs overseas, whether there should be a Federal Reserve, defending Gun Ownership, right-to-work laws, or any of a number of things Conservatives are likely to intersect with. If you have never once shamed a Christian who felt God wanted him or her to pursue those issues, you're a Class A hypocrite. Simple as that.

KEVIN ANDERSON

March 09, 20136:09am

Rick Dalbey: Jesus also never said anything *against* most of those things. But to take them one by one: Income Redistribution: Practiced in the edicts of Jubilee, which Jesus never said was over with. Before you give me the "Theocracy" argument, realize Israel was not one at any time after Saul was made king. Taxes: Both Jesus and Paul affirmed the Magistrate's right to tax. If the Rich are short of obligations, there is no choice but to right that inequity. Gays: As far as I can see, all sinners are afforded the same rights as saints. Probably the larger question is whether or not the Government should even be in the business of officiating ANY marriage whether gay or straight. Give that duty back to the church, problem solved. Immigrants: What part of Deuteronomy 10:18-19 do you not understand? Pacifism: How did Jesus put his enemies to an open shame? (See Colossians 1.) Organic: Who talks about that? Prisons: Let's see you wind up there and then ask how long you have that opinion.

audrey ruth

March 08, 20138:26pm

Rick, thanks for that insight. It is always wise to consider the source.

Rick Dalbey

March 07, 201312:59pm

Bob, do you know the work of Tyler Wigg Stevenson or have you read the book? He is a liberal activist who graduated from college went to work for retired Democrat senator Alan Cranston to eliminate Nuclear weapons. He is completely absorbed in the full spectrum of liberal causes from ecology, HIV/AIDS activism, poverty and development issues, nuclear disarmament, pacifism, you name it. He works in concert with Jim Wallis, Ron Sider and Tony Campolo on social justice issues. He is a liberal activist who is proud to remain a liberal activist and writes for the Huffington Post on political issues. He views what he is doing as the work of Jesus. When he says, "a mature understanding of the unity of the body of Christ allows us to care about everything Christ cares about" this is what he means. I contend that this is a 21st century man-made political Jesus.

Bob Bobo

March 07, 201311:57am

Short but well said. Comments good too, but hey "Rick D" Your comments are out in left field my friend. You obviously have a chip on your shoulder. This article had nothing to do with your comments.

J G

March 07, 20137:06am

Agree with Jim over Rick on topics. But agree with Rick that we all have the tendency to create a Jesus who is like us, and then follow Him.

Jim Ricker

March 06, 20136:34pm

This problem is not new, it is what was termed, 'burn-out' in the 80's and we are no less wise to avoid it now as we were then. Conviction comes by the Spirit and the saving comes through the King. Certainly we are the 'thinking tool' of the Master Gardner and have good works prepared for for us but the true work is performed by the Trinity. Being an activist for justice, caring for the downtrodden is part of our call as our King declared when he confirmed the morality of those with resources being responsible for those without resources.

Rick Dalbey

March 04, 201312:59pm

The problem is that when some talk about caring about everything Jesus cared about, they define this as caring about income redistribution, taxing the rich, gay rights, the rights of illegal immigrants, pacifism, organic food, prison reform. All things that Jesus never talked about. What did He commission the 12 to do? What did He commission the 70 to do? What did Peter, James, John, Philip and Paul do in the book of Acts and beyond? The problem is when we invent our own Christ and then follow him.